Guwahati, June 2: As news of Rahul Mahajan’s illness came in, a pall of gloom descended on the BJP’s Assam unit, which was preparing a “fitting farewell” to his father Pramod Mahajan and Rahul’s “first public address”.

Rahul was slated to arrive here tomorrow to immerse his father’s ashes in the Brahmaputra, as Pramod, who was the state in-charge of the BJP’s campaign during the Assembly elections, had wished.

The late BJP leader’s secretary Bibek Moitra, who died after a party at Pramod’s house in Delhi late last night, was to accompany Rahul.

The BJP said it would go ahead with tomorrow’s programme but would keep it “simple”.

New Delhi (PTI): Gopinath Munde has said he was told that nephew Rahul and Bibek Moitra felt uneasy after dinner around 2.30 on Friday morning. Bibek, who was suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes, died of “heart attack” around 5, he said, adding that Rahul’s condition is improving. Asked if Rahul’s mother Rekha has been informed, he said: “We have told her that it is a case of food poisoning.”